Grading & condition

Slab — a graded card sealed in a tamper-evident case. Grade — a 1–10 condition rating. Gem Mint — a 10, near-perfect. Centering, corners, edges, surface — the four attributes graders judge. Cert number — the unique ID on a slab you can verify with the grader. Crack — to open a slab, often to regrade.

Value & market

Comp — a comparable realized sale used to value a card. Pop report — a count of how many copies exist at each grade. Liquidity — how easily a card converts to cash at fair value. Raw — an ungraded card. Premium — the extra value a higher grade or rarer version commands.

Card types

Rookie card (RC) — a player’s first official card. Parallel — an alternate-version card (color, foil, or numbered). Short print (SP/SSP) — a card printed in smaller quantities. First Edition / Shadowless — early, scarcer printings (notably in Pokémon). One-of-one (1/1) — the single rarest serial-numbered copy.

Protection

Provenance — the documentation and pedigree behind a card. Scheduled rider — an insurance add-on that covers listed valuables at agreed values. Concentration — how much of a collection’s value sits in one card or player. Slabline Score — a 0–1000 index of how well-protected a collection is.